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† Suffering of St. Emelian Dorostolsky and others “The disciple of Christ Emelian, from the Thracian city of Dorostol (Durosten), was a slave of the Greek, and a Christian by faith,” says the ancient news 230. If Emelian’s master was a Greek, then this shows that Emelian’s slave was not a Greek. Who was he from? The Slavs lived on the right bank of the Danube, and the colonists among them were Roman and Greek warriors, who later became aristocrats of power and wealth; the poor Slavs, for the most part, bore a heavy share of slavery here 231. So St. Emelian was a Slav. His suffering happened like this: the apostate Julian sent a prefect to Durosten - a merciless despot, so that all the Christians of Durosten would be tortured if they refused to honor the gods. The prefect appeared in the city with the pomp of a satrap. Who are the Christians here? he asked when the citizens were first introduced to him. Frightened by the rumor about the cruel prefect, the citizens replied that not a single Christian was visible among them, everyone bowed to the gods. Delighted with the thought that his very name had dispelled the Christian faith in Durosten, the arrogant prefect gave a sumptuous feast to the citizens. It was bitter for Blessed Emelian to hear the boasting of a pagan and to see that the lack of firmness in Christians turns into a disgrace to Christianity. During the prefect's feast, he, taking a hammer, goes to the church and crushes the idols. - Fans of paganism, not knowing who had treated their gods this way, seized an innocent farmer on suspicion. Emelian, having heard about this, appears to the defenders of the gods and declares: “I have crushed your mighty gods.” They present him to the prefect. “Who taught you to dishonor the gods like that?” “God and my soul,” the confessor calmly answered, and added: “now both the intelligent prefect and everyone else must see how powerless, how deaf and dumb your idols are, considered to be gods! Like stone and wood made into idols; not a single one raised a voice in his own defense.” - The prefect, irritated by the bold voice of truth, ordered the confessor to be stretched out on the ground and beaten with ox sinews. The servants beat him mercilessly, blood flowed in streams. “How dare you dishonor idols? “I will teach you to honor them,” shouted the fierce prefect. The sufferer answered: “My act is not dishonor, but glory and praise to the true God.” The prefect ordered to turn him over and beat him on the chest and belly. They beat the sufferer again for a long time. “Are you a slave or are you free?” asked the prefect. “The mayor’s slave,” answered the sufferer. The prefect ordered a pound of silver to be collected from the mayor into the royal treasury for keeping a servant disobedient to the gods, he demanded a pound of gold from the city because the citizens said that there were no Christians among them, and Emelian ordered to be burned. Will they say that this is stupid despotism? They will tell a lie: this is pure liberalism, allowing complete freedom to all pagan wickedness and declaring every word spoken in favor of eternal truth as an intolerable deed. Outside the city, on the banks of the Danube, a huge fire was laid out and lit; the martyr was thrown into the fire; many of the pagans were severely scorched by the strong flame, while the secret Christians standing nearby suffered no harm. The latter, secretly appearing to the prefect's wife, a secretive Christian, asked to be allowed to bury the remains of the martyr. At the request of his wife, permission was given, and St. the relics were buried 3 versts from the city. The holy martyr suffered on July 18, 362 232. Courage of St. Emelian’s firmness inspired others who had hitherto been hiding out of fear. The fierce prefect was glad to learn about the other Christians who were pointed out. To please his master, the apostate Julian, he was ready to torment a Christian, if only he would become a pagan. So after St. Saints Vassus, Maximus, Paul, Secunda, Donata, Marinus and Justus were tortured by Emelian, and they all died as martyrs. This is shown in the ancient martyrology. † Repose of Rev. John the Long-Suffering Rev. John is an example of a difficult struggle with carnal lust, ending in a glorious victory, with the combined action of a strong will and heavenly grace. “Listen,” John said to one brother, who was despondent from struggling with passionate thoughts, “I’ll tell you what happened to me. From my youth I suffered a lot, tormented by the lust of the flesh, and I don’t know what I didn’t do to save myself. I spent two and three days without food, often for a whole week I did not eat anything, I tormented myself with thirst, and wore heavy chains. I spent three years in such suffering and still did not find the desired peace. I went to the cave where our father Anthony lies, and stayed here day and night, praying in front of his coffin. Then I heard a voice: “John! you need to shut yourself up here in order to at least weaken the battle through invisibility and silence, and the Lord will help you with the prayers of His saints.” From that time on, I settled in this mournful and cramped cave. I’ve been here for 30 years now, and only recently have I found peace, but I’ve spent my whole life struggling with passions. My life was cruel in the constant struggle with carnal passion. Not having the strength to endure this struggle, I thought of running away from here. Finally, I put heavy (still new) chains on myself and dug a hole up to my shoulders; at the onset of Lent, I climbed into it and covered myself with earth with my own hands, so that only my hands and head remained free. So, suppressed by the earth, I spent the entire fast, unable to move a single member of my body. But even here carnal lust did not suddenly cease. My legs, covered with earth, were as if on fire, so that my veins writhed, my bones cracked, heat enveloped my stomach and all my members. But I forgot the severe illness and in my soul rejoiced that through this the unclean movements subsided. Truly, I would rather burn in this fire for God than to come out of the pit. The enemy of salvation brought fear into me, wanting to drive me out of the cave. I saw a terrible serpent who wanted to devour me, breathing fire, showering me with sparks, and this action of the evil one continued for many days. On the very night of Bright Resurrection, this serpent attacked me so much that my whole head seemed to be in its mouth. Then I cried out from the depths of my heart: “O Lord my God and my Savior! Why did you leave me? Have mercy on me, You alone love mankind; deliver me from my vile iniquity, so that I do not get stuck in the net of the enemy; deliver me from the mouth of my enemy; flash lightning and drive him away.” As soon as I uttered these words, lightning suddenly flashed; the serpent disappeared, and I have not seen him since then. The Divine Light shone on me like the sun, and I heard a voice: “John! here's help for you; From now on, take heed to yourself so that the worst does not happen to you and you do not suffer in the next century.” I bowed and said: “Lord! Why did you leave me to suffer for so long?” “According to the strength of your patience,” it was said in response, I brought temptation upon you, so that you would be burned like gold; The master assigns hard work to strong and strong servants, and small and easy work to weak and weak ones; you pray for yourself buried here, he can help you in this fight; he is taller than Joseph.” I did not know the name of the deceased; I found out later that it was Moses Ugrin. Pray also, brother, to this venerable Moses.” This is what the blessed one said. John his story to his brother. Polycarp says about this brother: “one of our brethren came to him (John)” 233 . This means that this brother was still alive under Polycarp, who wrote in 1230. But Polycarp does not say that the reverend himself was alive. John. So we must assume that Rev. John did not rest blessedly until 1160. His death followed on July 18, 234. His holy relics rest in Anthony’s cave, and he remains to this day as he died: his honest head and cross-folded hands are in plain sight, everything else is in the ground 235. “This pillar of chastity is invincible in the face of the enemy, just like the long-suffering pillar you left your body erected for us, O all-honorable John, who in our spiritual and physical infirmities we worship, we pray to you, reverend, pray to Christ God unceasingly for all of us.” Rev. Leonty Karikhovsky Rev. Leonty founded the Karikhov monastery in the Novgorod district, in which he himself died on July 18, 1492. His relics rest hidden in the current parish church of the village of Karikhova. Rev. Pamva, a contemporary of Anthony the Great, was one of the famous ascetics who fled in the Nitrian desert in Egypt, famous especially for fasting, non-covetousness and caution in speech. Upon entering monasticism, since he was illiterate, he asked a hermit to teach him some psalms. When he, reading the psalms aloud for Pamva, reached the 38th, Pamva, hearing the words: “I will watch my ways, so that I do not sin with my tongue,” said: “Now that’s enough, my father, I will study this lesson... And from then on, I loved silence most of all. Meanwhile, even many years later, having already become famous for his holiness and wisdom, Rev. Pamva, regarding this saying of St. Prophet David, said: “I have been repeating this lesson for nineteen years and have barely gotten used to implementing it in practice”... Illiterate at the beginning of his asceticism, Pamva, however, was a deeply enlightened teacher of the Holy Scriptures later and had many famous students: Dioscorus - who was later the Bishop of Ermopolis, Ammonius, Eusebius and Euthymius, and also remembered in the life of St. Hilarion the Great October 25 Dracontius bishop and confessor of Christ (May 21), who suffered in exile from the Arians. Many great saints wanted to use his wise advice. So one day St. Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria, asked Ven. Pamva to come to Alexandria for a spiritual conversation. Arriving in this city and walking through the streets along with the brethren accompanying him, Rev. Pamva met a woman adorned with luxurious, exquisite clothes. Looking at her and seeing her spiritual impurity, covered by a brilliant appearance, the elder began to cry. When the brothers asked: why is he crying? - then the man of God answered: “I’m crying for two reasons... firstly, about the death of the soul of this dressed-up woman, and secondly, about myself: because I don’t have such attentive care about decorating my soul as this woman does about decorating her body... This woman is doing her best to please people... Can I say about myself that I care just as much about pleasing God?” ... Rev. Pimen spoke about Rev. Pamve that he has three things: fasting, silence and handicraft. He was engaged in weaving matting and baskets, which he later exchanged for bread, and in his entire life he did not eat a single piece of bread that he would have received for free. While working, the mind of the ascetic was always occupied with the thought of God and therefore became enlightened and rose from strength to strength, improving at the same time in humility, so that often, not trusting himself, he did not suddenly answer those who turned to him with questions, but sometimes after several days of prayer, in which he asked for enlightenment from above. Non-covetousness of the Rev. The pamva was also perfect. Shortly before his death, he was visited by one pious, rich Roman woman named Melania, who used her wealth on the poor, on monasteries and churches. She also offered a rich offering to the Monk Pamva. Pamva, weaving a basket at that time, without leaving his work, said only to Melania: “May God reward you according to your zeal!” - and, without looking back at the offering, he ordered the disciple who was with him to accept the gift and deliver it to the desert dwellers in Libya, who have barren land and therefore great poverty... - “Our land is fertile, and we can be content with our labors” ... - he added. “But, my father,” said Melania, “you didn’t look at how much money there is!” You should know that there is three hundred liters of silver... - My daughter! - objected Pamva, - He, in whose name you brought your gift, He who measures the earth by the handful and sets the mountains by the measure, does not he really know the measure of your offering? If you were offering it to me, you could say so, but you are giving it to God, for whom a widow’s two mites were more precious than the gold of the rich... Feeling the approach of death, Rev. Pamva remembered the pious Melania, called her to him and, bidding her farewell, gave her the last basket he had woven as a souvenir. Saying goodbye to the brethren, the ascetic told them: “since I settled in this desert, there has not been a day in which I did not work until I was tired... I also don’t remember that I uttered any word in which I should have repented and been ashamed of it at this hour, but still I feel that I am going to God, as if I had not yet begun to serve Him”... Rev. Pamva died peacefully in 386, being 70 years old. Menologium Basilii 3, 172. Σϰλαϱηνιοι have long been identical with the name of a slave. See note. 1, and June 22. Procopius de aedificiis p. 7, r. 83: “Justinian again built the fortified city of Adina, near the city of Palmata, so that the Slavs, usually hiding there and attacking travelers, would not interfere with the routes of communication.” Palmata, according to the Pevtinger map in the southeast of Durosten (Dorostolya), at a distance of 14 Roman miles, or 19 versts. Not far from Durosten, on the Danube, Orekhovets. Chet-Minea July 18; Vershinsky's monthbook, pp. III, 319. Polycarp in the RKP. message to Akindinos. So in the oven. Patericon. So it is with Met. Sylvester, where it is said together: “his memory goes to the 18th day of Lipets” (July). Index to the shrines of Kyiv, p. 50. K. 1850. Kalnofoysky has “Saint John the Wonderworker, long-suffering, buried up to his waist in the ground.”